Two recent releases on DocPlay turn the spotlight on some of the ways in which the Hollywood movie business has been transformed. Kristy Guevara-Flanagan’s examine the changing of the guard from different vantage points. One looks at how films are being made nowadays; the other scrutinises the shocking behind-the-scenes practices of a modern-day mogul.
There might have been a bit of nudity here and there up until the early 1930s. But, after that – and until the phasing out of the Hays Code a generation later – it was up to screenwriters and savvy directors to find a way of indicating there was a lot more than flirtatious conversation and three-second kissing going on between the romantic leads . Discreet fades to black or shots of closed bedroom doors were signposts for sex. Another Hollywood code at work, albeit unofficially.
It also draws attention to other ways in which the illusion of perfection is created and its impact on audiences’ expectations of themselves. VFX artist Sevan Najarian explains how perceived blemishes on actors’ bodies can be removed digitally, confiding that it goes against the grain for him. “I don’t respond to ultra-beauty in my life,” he says. “I like the flaws … I feel like I’m part of the problem instead of the solution.
And its “repurposing” of clips to make its points about the workings of the wretched male gaze frequently ignores the fact that the films they’ve been extracted from might actually share Guevara-Flanagan’s views.mishmash. An account of the crimes of a man seen variously as a genius and a monster, it begins with the 66-year-old Weinstein surrendering himself to New York police after three decades of accusations against him.